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Mountain Galaxias
Conservation status: Least Concern
This isn't a single species of fish, as such, but what is called a "cryptic species complex", which means that it is a group of fish that are so very closely related that their classification can't be easily determined.
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Scientific Classification
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Actinopterygii
Salmoniformes
Galaxiidae
Galaxias
olidus
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Overall, Galaxias olidus are small fish - typically about 7 cm in length - but they can grow to 13.5 cm long. They have a stout body with a small head and fins. Their colour ranges from yellowy-green to brown with an olive or silvery belly. They can have banded, blotched or mottled sides.
They live in freshwater streams and prefer those with sandy, gravelly or rocky bottoms, where they hunt for insects, spiders, crustaceans, worms and molluscs to eat.
Spring and early Summer is the main spawning season. Females can lay up to 350 eggs, depositing them under stones and boulders. The eggs hatch after about three weeks.
The Mountain Galaxias is confined to high altitude headwaters of the Border Rivers and Condamine-Balonne catchments in Queensland, although it is also found in lowland situations in the south of its range in Victoria and South Australia. The fish is present in the catchment area above Dr. Roberts Waterhole in Girraween.
A major impact on this fish is predation by introduced species, especially Brown Trout Salmo trutta and Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, neither of which are found in Queensland. Being a species with a considerable proportion of its population restricted to high altitudes especially in the north of its range, global warming might well have a dramatic impact on the fish in the long term.
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